REMEMBER the story? Glamorgan win the toss and their batsmen are in confident mood before wickets start falling like drunks at last orders.

Malcolm Marshall, Joel Garner, Richard Hadlee and Garth Le Roux are having a ball and, before you can say hat-trick, batsmen are raising eyebrows rather than bats and the Welsh county are on the way to being scuttled.

Except Gordon Greenidge, Viv Richards (before his Glamorgan days), Clive Rice and Imran Khan, that is. The second wave of the opposition's foreign legion take over and Glamorgan, with one overseas player in their ranks, are quickly sunk without trace.

But those days belonged to the 1980s, didn't they? When rival counties had two overseas players compared to Glamorgan's one. It could surely never happen again, could it?

Well, it just might as Glamorgan - who were against the move to double the number of overseas players to two - could make the ultimate statement over the issue and go into the new campaign with only one international star on board.

While Glamorgan have re-signed Australian paceman Mike Kasprowicz, ELEVEN counties have tied up two overseas players for 2003.

Fellow Second Division championship rivals are bursting at the seams with world-class talent. Gloucestershire have Ian Harvey and Jonty Rhodes, Hampshire boast the Australian pair Shane Warne and Simon Katich and Somerset can call on Jamie Cox and Nixon McLean. What price, promotion?

Essex and Leicestershire remain rare breeds in as much as they have yet to unveil anyone, although sources at both clubs say signings are imminent. Northamptonshire, Warwickshire and Yorkshire, with just one overseas player confirmed, have told The Western Mail they will definitely make a second international signing.

Only Glamorgan and Kent - while prom-ising to review the situation - have hinted they could enter the new season with just one overseas player.

But former Glamorgan batsman John Hopkins believes that is a policy fraught with danger and could leave the county playing catch-up this season.

"I know from painful experience that being an overseas player short puts you at a disadvantage," said Hopkins.

"When I played in the 1980s there was a move to cut the number of overseas players because it had got quite ridiculous.

"It was cut to one, but some counties still had two because their overseas players were allowed to play out their careers if had been registered before a certain date.

"So while we were down to one when we had to choose between Javed Miandad and Ezra Moseley, Somerset had Richards and Garner, Sussex had Le Roux and Imran Khan and Notts had Rice and Hadlee.

"Most of them were world-class quick bowlers as well and there was no place to hide for an opening batsman like myself. We didn't stand a chance."

Hopkins, now 49, still takes a keen interest in his old county after an 18-year playing career that brought nearly 14,000 first-class runs.

But he fears that Glamorgan will pay the penalty should the club employ only one overseas player next season.

"I think having two overseas players is the absolute limit," he says. "I certainly wouldn't want to see any more in county cricket. But Glamorgan have to got to be careful they are not left behind. You see the difference top-class overseas players make to a side when Glenn McGrath and Shane Warne are taken out of the Australia side.

"It's the same at county level. If other counties have got two good overseas play-ers and Glamorgan have one then you'd think it's going to be difficult.

"Having two quality overseas players makes all the difference, and if we signed a top-class batsman to go with what we've got, then we'd obviously be a lot stronger.

"But, of course, it all comes down to money and whether the club can afford bringing that extra quality in."

Glamorgan are currently contemplating whether to sign a second overseas player but seem likely to put any move on hold until the eve of the new season.

Queensland batsman Jimmy Maher would be the club's first choice after scoring over 1,000 first-class runs in 2001. Left-hander Maher loved his time at Glam-organ but he was overlooked last season when captain Steve James identified the need for a strike bowler.

But Maher, now bound for the World Cup and a fixture in Australia's one-day squad, would miss the start of the season because of his country's tour of the West Indies.

A move for Michael Bevan could be ruled out for the same reason as well as probable expensive personal demands, and Glamorgan might have more success pursuing established Test campaigners Greg Blewett and Michael Slater or highly-rated Victoria opener Jason Arnberger.

"It's early days yet and there's no rush to sign a second overseas player just because other counties have," said Glamorgan chief executive Mike Fatkin.

"We could do something at the last possible minute. But we have also invested heavily in our academy and there is also the argument that we should back the likes of Ian Thomas and Dan Cherry.

"You've also got to realise that having two overseas players is going to cost #150,000-plus and I do not think the game is rich enough to sustain that."

But Glamorgan may yet decide that the price is one that they have to pay.